Sign in toCleveland.com

Dancing Wheels sets in motion plan to relocate after sale of Masonic Temple

Updated January 28, 2018 at 5:06 AM;Posted January 28, 2018 at 5:00 AM

Cleveland's Dancing Wheels has announced a plan to relocate from its longtime home in the Masonic Temple to this street-level location at 3030 Euclid Ave (with the awnings) in Cleveland. (Zachary Lewis/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland's Dancing Wheels is rolling down the street. Six blocks west, to be precise.

On Sunday, the company announced plans to relocate from the Masonic Temple and Performing Arts Center to a ground-level facility at 3030 Euclid Ave.

The integrated dance troupe hopes the new storefront location will afford it greater visibility in Cleveland's Midtown district while also continuing to meet its needs for space and accessibility.

"What we saw [in the new location] was potential," said Mary Verdi-Fletcher, the company's founder and artistic director. "My big concern was to find a place that would provide stability."

To be clear, the decision to move was not voluntary. Affordable, spacious, and accessible to every member of the troupe, including those who rely on public transportation, the company's current home inside the Masonic complex was satisfactory in every way.

"I love how spacious our studios are," said wheelchair dancer Tanya Ewell. "I don't think I've ever been to another place that's as roomy as ours."

But others had eyes on the space, too, including the building's 2,200-seat auditorium and cavernous meeting rooms, offices, and backstage areas.

Last spring, Dancing Wheels was informed that Masonic Temple had been sold to a private developer and that it, along with other resident groups including the Singing Angels, would have to leave its headquarters of nearly 20 years. The initial deadline to move was February, but Verdi-Fletcher said she negotiated for May.

"To hear that message, over the phone, and to think of moving out of what has been our home for so long, was heartbreaking," Verdi-Fletcher said. "Then again, I'm okay as long as I have a direction. It's just a new adventure."

Adventure is one word to describe the company's efforts to relocate. Moving, as anyone can attest, is never easy, but it's doubly difficult when it's unplanned and your needs are highly specific.

Dancing Wheels couldn't just go anywhere. Not only was the company limited to inner-city Cleveland, where it sees itself as most needed. It also required a facility with large, unobstructed rooms for dancing as well as street-level access, restrooms, on-site parking, proximity to bus and train lines, and office and storage space.

The company's real estate brokers "understood accessibility, but not necessarily from the perspective of dance," Verdi-Fletcher explained. "It took a lot of meetings."

The physical act of moving, too, is shaping up to be a special challenge. Just as families accumulate possessions over time, so has Dancing Wheels accrued an enormous trove of files, costumes, sets, and other materials.

"After 20 years, we've collected a ton of stuff," Verdi-Fletcher said. "It's like moving a house, five times over."

The 3030 Euclid location meets most of the troupe's most pressing needs. It's perfectly accessible, prominently located on a not far from Playhouse Square, and spacious enough for dancing, storage, and offices. On the down side, its ceilings are too low and there's no restroom on the first floor.

The latter necessitates a bit of renovation, and fundraising to finance it. Hence, within its announcement of the new location, Dancing Wheels also unveiled a $500,000 campaign, of which $190,000 has been raised so far.

Work on the property is set to begin in March, and a grand opening is tentatively slated shortly thereafter, on May 19. Meanwhile, the company's busy schedule of performances and educational events remains intact. Dancing Wheels even plans to move forward in April with a new production of "Pinocchio," at the Breen Center.

"We can't mess around at all," Verdi-Fletcher said. "It's important that we continue fundraising, and have the money to continue the work."

The mood at Dancing Wheels these days is one of bittersweet optimism. Artistic work continues apace while staffers pore over blueprints, pack boxes, and take renewed pleasure in the views from their many third-floor windows.

Ewell, for her part, said she has no choice but to embrace the coming changes. She may be nervous about the renovations being finished on time, but she's also touched by the show of public support so far and committed to ensuring the survival and prosperous future of a company that has come to play a central role in her life.

After 37 years, Ewell said with conviction, "I don't want to see us fail to keep going just because of a move."